A Vischer Ferry addiction

I can’t explain it any other way. Sometimes it’s to the preserve, sometimes it’s riding my bike along one of my favorite routes that goes through the hamlet and past the preserve, but I just have to go there. If you’ve been there, you probably already know the feeling.

I was there twice this weekend and thought about going a third time.

Thirty seconds into my first visit, accompanied by Rocky the dog and carrying a pair of binoculars, we stumbled across the very handsome American Widgeon. It was the first I’d ever seen.

Not two minutes later, while we were looking for other things I might have never seen before, I did see something I’d never seen before.

A raccoon running right at us. He stopped a few feet short of us and let out a noise that sounded like: RRRRRROOORRRROORRRORRRRORRR! Then he headed off into the woods.

Welcome to Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve in Clifton Park. We hadn’t even left sight of the car and I had checked a bird off my life list and been checked out by a raccoon.

From there, we made a long circle to the Mohawk River and around the old tow path. It’s the kind of place you just wander, not worrying about when you’ll get back to your car.

Chipping sparrows danced around at ankle height and the calls of red-winged blackbirds were everywhere.

I’m not much of a bird watcher but I very much like ducks. Mostly because they will just sit there in the water, giving you time to figure out exactly what they are.

A pair of green-winged teals were very helpful as I leafed through the pages of Sibley’s (Canvasback…nope, Cinnamon teal…nope.) A warbler would have been long gone but the teal sat placidly on the water.

We saw a great deal more widgeons scattered amongst Canada geese, pied-billed grebes, hooded mergansers and ring-necked ducks. The first warbler of the year made its appearance. I took dozens of blurry photos before being able to nail down that it was a palm warbler.

On a tip from some birders near the Whipple Bridge, I went home via the Stony Creek Reservoir. I would have been happy with all the wood ducks as they are always great to see. But the birds everyone was talking about were the Great Egrets that stood eating near a small rocky island in the reservoir. Almost every car that passed by slowed down or stopped to get a better look. That’s how you get hooked.

A black-capped chickadee takes off from a branch in the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve.

I love that you share the beauties of places right here in the Capital Region. It’s amazing that you caught that picture of the chick-a-dee taking off. There is so much to see no matter where we go. Fabulous!

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